Lina Meslin

It is with heavy heart that we announce the passing of Lina Meslin, at the age of 89, on December 22, 2020.

Lina was an unconventional woman. She grew up in rural France and Switzerland, on remote farms and in small villages, with her parents, Anna Tschantz and Numa Rosselet, and 3 brothers – the late William and Jean-Jacques Rosselet, and is survived by her older brother Claude. Lina was definitely a farm girl and not a girly girl by any means, and later in life you could almost always find her in jeans, cut off jean shorts, sweatshirts, track pants, and t-shirts. Lina rarely wore heels, and much preferred walking in runners, leather sandals, or barefoot. She was a woman who didn’t mind getting her hands dirty.

Growing up, she really did walk miles through fields covered in snow, up to her hips, to get to her one room school house, where she and her brothers would dry off by sitting beside the wood stove and having their clothes steam on them, as they dried.

Lina was adventurous, and on a whim, sailed to Canada with a couple of friends from France, when in her late 20s. Her intention was to see all of Canada while working in the CP hotels with her friends however, she didn’t get the job. While her friends went off to travel, Lina settled and worked as a domestic in Toronto. She did not speak any English when she came, and didn’t quite understand how to keep a kosher house with separate dishes, for the first Jewish family with whom she worked.

While in Toronto, she met Joe Meslin - who was a widower with 2 teenagers – son Leon Meslin and late daughter Zena (Meslin) Miller. Lina decided to put down roots, and they were married shortly thereafter. They soon added daughters Jo-Anne and Davia to the mix. Over the years, Lina openly welcomed Alan Miller (Zena's husband), Evelyn Truty (Leon's partner), Daniel Caine (Jo-Anne’s partner) and his son Nathan Caine, as well as Vicky McCann (Davia's wife) into her heart and home.

When Joe first asked Lina out on a date, he asked her to choose what she’d like to do. At that time, he owned a hobby shop on Yonge St at Carlton. Maple Leaf Gardens was around the corner, and of course, Lina’s idea of a great date would be to go see a wrestling match there. He was a good sport, and took her, without question - other than asking incredulously “wrestling?!?!?!” He had hoped that something was lost in translation!

Lina loved watching sports – tennis, hockey, baseball, basketball, golf, curling, skiing, football, bowling, and – as previously mentioned, wrestling. You could often find her wearing her Tour de France shirt, Toronto Maple Leafs gear (she was a die-hard fan), Toronto Blue Jays tops, or Federer cap (she had to support her Swiss tennis player)!

At home, you could usually find Joe reading the newspaper or a book, while listening to classical music or watching the news, while Lina could be heard yelling and cheering at whatever game happened to be on the tv or listening to them on the radio. “Oh shoots!” was a regular comment that would be yelled in her French accent, which she never lost. Lina never swore, but let her upset at bad plays be known.
Lina could also regularly be found knitting sweaters and baby blankets. She was so adept at knitting that she didn’t have to look at the needles, and could usually be found watching 2 or 3 sports games at a time on the t.v. and listening to a game on the radio all while keeping her hands busy knitting.

Lina could always be counted on to be present at her daughters’ swim classes, ballet lessons, and art classes. She volunteered in her daughters’ classes at Glen Park Public School, and regularly went on the class trips. Many of the children in those classes would clamber to be in her group, as she always made the outings more fun.

She loved working with the grade 1 teacher Mrs. Birgit Andersen, and stayed on to help in her class even once her daughters had left the school. After years of volunteering, Birgit told Lina to apply for a job as a teaching assistant, and this is how she began her career with the Toronto District School Board. She retired from this job, after working for many years at Palmerston Public School.

Lina always felt her best when helping others. After meeting a blind woman while out for a walk in the neighbourhood, Lina befriended her, and would go on to take her grocery shopping on a regular basis. The family home was open for children, whose parents worked, to come for lunches or after school was out. Grilled cheese with tomato soup, and Kraft dinner were staples. Lina’s homemade soups from leftovers were renowned, and loved by many.

She used to also assist at an after school program at the Workmen’s Circle Peretz School, where Davia and Jo-Anne went to learn Yiddish. Lina would assist the teacher and play director, Roz Goldberg, with making costumes and props. They went on to work summers together, at Lina’s nephew Gord’s day camp - Camp Maple Glen - where the two ran the arts and crafts program. When Roz retired, Lina carried on working with Roz’s daughter Bibi, and in total, was there for close to 20 years.

Unfortunately, Lina and Joe were married for only 27 years, as Joe was quite a bit older. Lina nursed him back to health through 2 heart attacks, but the third one took him out in 1989. Lina remained single for the remainder of her 31 years, after his death.

Not wanting to see her all on her own, a family home was purchased. She got to live with daughter Jo-Anne, and with her granddaughters, Aimee and Samantha Russell. She went regularly with them to their Karate lessons, and helped care for them in the evenings, while Jo-Anne worked or was in school. She watched the girls grow up into adulthood in the family home, and 10 years ago, saw the birth of her great grandson, Aiden Bailey, and had the pleasure of watching him grow up with her, in the family home.

Lina was a real nature enthusiast. Once the camp closed down, she loved looking after her granddaughters at her cottage at the Workmen’s Circle Colony in Pickering, over the summers. She had a huge garden there, and had the girls help her with harvesting the gains. When the girls were little, Lina told them that the way to catch rabbits was to put salt under their tails. She told them that when the rabbits stopped to lick it, that was when they could be caught. Watching them run around outside for hours, with salt shakers, hoping to get salt under a rabbit’s tail was the absolute best! LIna had a good sense of humour.

She loved fishing, watching and listening to the birds, and just sitting and relishing being in nature. The bane of her existence, was trying to figure out a way to keep the squirrels away from the bird feeders, and she built many a contraption in the attempt to do so!

She frequently visited the wolf sanctuary in Haliburton, to watch the wolf pack there. While at the dump when up north, she would sit in the car watching the bears (and sometimes got out of the car for an unrecommended closer view!). She had her best sleeps when she was in natural environments, listening to the noises of the natural world. When in the city, she had a sound machine that played the sounds of waves on the shore to help her fall asleep.

When Aimee got married this past fall, Lina couldn’t have been more excited, and whole heartedly welcomed Asher Smith into the home. Having 4 generations under one roof could be a challenge at times, but also a great privilege. She was lovingly referred to as "meme" by all, including the many family friends who graced the home.

Family was always a big thing. She was truly a good sport, and would laugh while making snap chat videos with Aiden. She loved doing puzzles, crosswords, playing Scrabble (in French and English), Rumi-Q, and reading. She really enjoyed the Vinyl Cafe stories by Stuart McLean, and when she later lost her ability to read, would listen to his audio books.

Whether it was eating dinners together daily, hanging on the front porch or back deck, family trips to the French River, or heading out for boat rides, Lina was there. Playing family board and card games after Sunday dinners was a great past time, that everyone relished. Get togethers for holiday dinners, or weekend visits were also cherished. In the last number of years, she really took joy in attending the Rock lacrosse games, for which the family had season tickets.

Lina regularly went back to Europe to visit family members in France and Switzerland. She loved to catch up with her brothers, niece, nephews, cousins, and meeting the younger generations. On one of these trips, she was able to meet unknown family members who were visiting from South Africa. Later on, she travelled there to see them in South Africa. On one of her visits, she went on her own on a one week tenting safari (she was in her 70s). She really delighted in travelling and getting to know better other family members who live in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec.

Even though she loved travelling, Lina was a homebody, but best enjoyed the company of friends and family. In her later years, she eagerly anticipated playing card games with her good neighbour, Joanne Brown, and their cruise trip together in Russia was certainly memorable. Getting together with friends and family for the yearly winter fondue and autumn raclette held by the Toronto Swiss Club, was also something Lina was fond of.

Lina was the type of person who, when something needed doing, she would just jump in and do it. Not only did she shingle the roof of the house where she and Joe lived, but also the roof of the arts and crafts shack at the camp. She made captains beds with drawers, and with the help of her nephew, built a full wall to wall unit with bookshelves and cabinets. Changing tires, doing the plumbing and some electrical work in the house, and handling the insects and mice that sometimes found their way in, was nothing for her.

When she was younger, Lina loved riding on the back of motorcycles with her older brothers. Here in Canada, she was thrilled when son-in-law Danny took her for a ride on his bike. It had been many years, and it brought back happy memories for her. She was very proud to say that her nephews were into motocross, and had completed the Paris-Dakar rally, and had numerous trophies that they had eagerly earned.

Lina’s adventurous streak continued into her later years, and she delighted in driving high end sports cars (even though she could barely see over the steering wheel), taking small plane tours of Toronto and even taking the wheel to fly a plane, and if that wasn’t enough, indoor skydiving - all while in her 70s and 80s. Unfortunately, she never made it to the hang gliding lesson that had been bought for her.

Lina was a real trooper, and overcame numerous health challenges over the decades. During the war years, she survived Para-Typhoid Fever, and later survived a ruptured appendix. She was born with a congenital heart defect which was only repaired when she was 50, and she received a pacemaker at that time. These led to a need for her to be on blood thinners for the remainder of her life which necessitated weekly or bi-weekly blood tests. She survived a mismatched blood transfusion, and had 2 hip replacements (over 10 years apart). She needed to go onto water pills for life, after suffering congestive heart failure. She was treated for Aspergillosis (a serious lung infection), and had to regularly get follow up by her lung doctor. More recently, she endured the pain of a fractured pelvis. She always recovered fully, and as a proper farm girl would, never acted as if anything was wrong.

Lina was on a first name basis with her family doctor - Dr. Shirley Kapolovic - who regularly made calls to Lina after hours, and who treated Lina with such care and compassion it was as if she was looking after her own mother. A thank you to “Dr. K” as well as Dr. Erwin Oechslin at Toronto General Hospital’s Peter Munk Cardiac Clinic, for taking such good care of Lina over the years.

It was a big family effort to keep Lina going all these years, but without second thought. Danny (who had a flexible schedule) became her main support, taking her shopping, for blood work, and to all her Dr.'s appointments, as well as managing her weekly medications. Later when she needed a little in home support, Nathan would spend weekdays with her, and Aimee would help out with meals, laundry, house- cleaning and medications, and both she and Samantha generally kept an eye out to monitor how she was doing. Most recently, the whole family pulled together to support Lina during her declining years with Alzheimer's, and her daily caregiver Debbie Edwards, was a welcome relief, and great companion for Lina.

Most memorable about Lina is that she was a woman ahead of her time. She encouraged and welcomed people of all races, religions, gender identity, sexual orientation, and varying ability levels into her home. In the 1970s when Joe brought home a Muslim refugee family from Kenya that he had met on a Go bus, without a second thought, Lina quickly made up a bedroom for the two parents - Ali and Roshan Ramji - and their children Karim and Shairoz. She helped Roshan learn how to grocery shop and make meals out of unfamiliar foods. She later helped the family find their first apartment, and get settled into Canadian life. We are proud to say that the Ramji family are still a part of our lives, and Lina will always be “Auntie” to them.

Even in her final years, Lina was always thinking of others. She made her wishes known to the family that she wanted her body to be donated to the University of Toronto’s School of Medicine, for research purposes. Unfortunately, due to Covid, her final wish could not be fulfilled, and instead, Lina’s body will be cremated, and her ashes will be scattered in all her loved places.
We are all proud to have had this wonderful woman in our lives, and are lucky to have numerous good memories, which we are glad to share. Please feel free to comment on what you remember of Lina, and if you have pictures, please share them on this site.
For those who may be interested in donating in her name, mom was kept healthy by the wonderful people at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and the Toronto General Hospital.
And for years she supported the World Wildlife Fund Canada | WWF.CA.
Due to Covid restrictions, a celebration of Lina’s life will occur at a later time.